Pinoys love Trump – survey

MANILA, Philippines -  Unlike in other parts of the world where he is seen as an incompetent leader, US President Donald Trump is perceived favorably by a majority of Filipinos, who gave him the highest confidence vote among citizens of 37 countries surveyed by an international research center.

A survey conducted by nonpartisan US-based Pew Research Center showed that 69 percent of Filipinos are confident that Trump will do the right thing when it comes to matters involving international affairs.

But this is still lower by 25 points from the 94 percent of Filipinos who said that they were confident with former US president Barack Obama when it comes to world affairs.

The Philippine confidence rating on Trump, the highest among all countries surveyed, is significantly higher than the 22 percent average confidence rating that the US president received worldwide.

Following the Philippines are Vietnam and Nigeria with 58 percent, Israel with 56 percent and Russia with 53 percent.

Israel and Russia are the only countries that showed an increase in confidence on the US president when Trump’s figures are compared with those obtained by Obama in his last days in office.

The rest showed a decline by as much as 83 percent in Sweden, which gave Obama 93 percent and Trump only ten percent.

Other countries that showed a significant decline on confidence with the US president include the Netherlands (down 75 points, from 92 percent on Obama to 17 percent on Trump), Germany (down 75 points, from 86 percent to 11 percent), South Korea (down 71 points, 88 percent to 17 percent) and France (down 70 points, from 84 percent to 14 percent).

The average confidence rating on the US president dropped 42 points under the Trump presidency (from 64 percent on Obama to 22 percent on Trump).

“Confidence in President Trump is influenced by reactions to both his policies and his character. With regard to the former, some of his signature policy initiatives are widely opposed around the globe,” said Pew, citing his plans such as the building of a border wall and the pullout from international agreements.

“Trump’s character is also a factor in how he is viewed abroad. In the eyes of most people surveyed around the world, the White House’s new occupant is arrogant, intolerant and even dangerous,” it added.

US favorability also declines

The same survey showed that the global view of the US also suffered with Trump in the White House. Favorability among Filipinos declined from 92 percent in 2015 under Obama to 79 percent this year.

This, however, is still among the highest among the countries surveyed, following Vietnam (78 percent in 2015 to 84 percent in 2017) and Israel (flat 81 percent).

Other countries that showed an increase in favorability were Hungary (62 percent to 63 percent), Greece (38 percent to 43 percent), Russia (15 percent to 41 percent) and Jordan (14 percent to 15 percent).

The rest of the countries surveyed showed a steep decline in US favorability worldwide, pulling the average from 64 percent during the end of the Obama presidency to 49 percent under the new leadership.

“While the new US president is viewed with doubt and apprehension in many countries, America’s overall image benefits from a substantial reservoir of goodwill,” said the research center.

“The American people, for instance, continue to be well-regarded – across the 37 nations polled, a median of 58 percent say they have a favorable opinion of Americans. US popular culture, likewise, has maintained appeal abroad, and many people overseas still believe Washington respects the personal freedoms of its people,” it added.

The survey was conducted among 40,448 respondents in 37 countries from Feb. 16 to May 8, 2017.